7 Food Festivals We Wish Existed In New Zealand

By Anna May - 11 Sep 2016

Just in case you were unaware, we really like food here at The Urban List. We like it in and around our mouths, we like it in our fridges and we like it on our clothes. So when there’s an entire day, week, or month dedicated to all things food and fun, we are always on board. Sure, we’ve got epic festivals like Auckland Seafood Festival and The Food Show but when other places in the world have freakin’ pizza festivals, you know we want to get on board.

Here are 7 food festivals we’d bloody love to come to New Zealand. So if any of you are reading this and you guys could just, like, sort yourselves out and hit us up, that would be juuuust great.

Pizzafest

Italy

To be honest I don’t feel like this needs an explanation, given that it’s a freakin’ Pizzafest and all. But I’m going to elaborate so we can all join forces to get this bad boy to New Zealand pronto. This glorious offering to food lovers around the world takes place in Naples, which is where everyone knows the best pizza in the world comes from. There are pizza making classes, people selling pizza from every possible outlet, and a coveted competition to name the best pizza maker in the city. I’m fairly certain this is what heaven would be like

La Tomatina

Spain

THIS IS LITERALLY AN ENORMOUS FOOD FIGHT. How could we not want to get involved? Taking place once a year, this awesome festival in Valencia attracts over 17,000 visitors. It all started with a friendly neighbourhood veggie fight in 1945, and has been a tradition ever since. Of course, getting saucy will make you build up an appetite, so there’s a big ass paella to be eaten when you’re all tomatoed out. C’mon guys, bring this messy love to Kiwi shores!

Battle of the Oranges

Italy

This is pretty much the same thing, but with oranges. Which I guess would be a little more painful, but just as fun. Don’t worry, people are well protected and children are hidden from the, y’know, fruit barrelling through the air. Might sound a bit odd to you, but it’s steeped in tradition and very close to the locals’ hearts. Plus, fun. Hopefully there’s plenty of prosecco going around after to make use of all that fresh orange pulp.

Maine Lobster Festival

Maine

This is it, the Maine event. Sorry… But I’ll make it up to you by giving you more details on this awesome crustacean party that takes place in Rockland, Maine (duh) and proudly boasts serving over 20,000 pounds of lobster and 1,700 pounds of butter over the course of the festival. Talk about heaven.

Potato Days Festival

Minnesota

Oh Minnesota. You big bunch of awesome weirdos. Jelly wrestling? Nah. They’re more into the savouries. Barnesville, known for its massive production of ‘tatoes, holds an annual Potato Day festival every year, full of potato tastings, farmer stalls, potato sack races, and a little tradition known as mashed potato wrestling… Where you can get all covered in potato and slam someone to the ground like you’ve always wanted to. Maybe that’s why people say Minnesota potatoes have that special spice…

Turnip Festival

Switzerland

No, it’s not some weird sex fetish thing, mind out of the gutter. It’s legitimately what it sounds like… A festival dedicated to turnips. But before you skip over this one, it’s actually really cool. Kind of. Taking place in Switzerland every year on the weekend after Halloween, it involves carving faces into turnips (like pumpkins) and parading them around the village… Which doesn’t sound like much until you find out there are 26 friggin’ tonnes of turnips involved. Gotta see it to believe it.

Cheese Rolling

UK

I have to admit that at first I thought this was a little sacrilegious. I mean, if you’ve got an enormous wheel of cheese, the least you can do is show it some respect and eat it, for Pete’s sake. But seriously, we could definitely get on board with the rolling of the cheese. There’s something so gallant about being the person to get across the line and win that cheese. You know, without breaking your back or leg, that is. Check out the website here for a full rundown… It’s all in Comic Sans MS, so you know it’s going to be good.

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